[homeles_ot-l] Fwd: Sign-On to Open Letter + Upcoming Prov. Events
Terrie
mocharebyl at gmail.com
Tue Oct 9 14:35:58 EDT 2012
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Terrie <mocharebyl at gmail.com>
Date: 9 October 2012 14:25
Subject: Fwd: Sign-On to Open Letter + Upcoming Prov. Events
To: odsp-issues <ODSP-issues at yahoogroups.com>
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Raise The Rates <raisetheratescampaign at gmail.com>
Date: 9 October 2012 14:10
Subject: Sign-On to Open Letter + Upcoming Prov. Events
To: cupe-raisetheratescampaign at googlegroups.com
Dear Raise the Rates Campaign supporters,
The Provincial government is set to cut the Community Start-Up and
Maintenance Benefit (CSUMB) this coming January. OCAP is working with
allies, including CUPE Ontario as part of the Raise the Rates Campaign, to
stop this cut and to continue to fight for a raise in social assistance
rates.
Below and attached is an important action item: an Open Letter from
front-line social service, community workers and agencies. Please take this
to your union local, your agency, or community organization and consider
signing-on to this Open Letter. Collected signatures are being posted here:
http://www.ocap.ca/node/1018
Also, please join us at one of the Provincial events, including this week
in Sudbury, Ottawa and Hamilton, and next week in Niagara Region on October
16th and Toronto on October 17th, the Day for the Eradication of Poverty -
all information is below and available here:
http://www.cupe.on.ca/d1427/raise-rates-action and here:
http://www.ocap.ca/node/1016
If you have any questions, ideas or would like to get involved, please
contact us at: 416-925-6939 or email: <ocap at tao.ca>
raisetheratescampaign at gmail.com
-----------------------------------------
Open Letter from Social Service and Front-line Community Workers and
Agencies on the Provincial Cut to the Community Start-Up and Maintenance
Benefit (CSUMB)
October, 2012
In January 2013, as part of its austerity budget, the Ontario provincial
government will cut 50% of funding to the Community Start-Up and
Maintenance Benefit (CSUMB). The other half of CSUMB money will go to
municipal housing and homelessness programs that serve an even larger pool
of low-income people, and CSUMB as we know it will effectively be
eliminated. As social service and frontline community workers, we are
opposed to this mean-spirited cost-cutting measure and the adverse impact
that it will have on the health and well-being of the individuals and
communities that we work with.
The CSUMB has been available to Ontario Works (OW) and Ontario Disability
Support Program (ODSP) recipients who are facing difficult crisis
situations. This benefit has been used to: secure housing by people leaving
shelters or hospitals; to pay rent arrears in order to avoid eviction; to
pay utility arrears in order to avoid having your water or heat cut off
during the freezing winter months; and purchasing basic household items
such as a bed or mattress. Currently, some 16,000 people a month across
Ontario rely on this vital benefit.
For frontline workers in the Violence Against Women (VAW) sector, the CSUMB
has proved decisive in enabling women and their children to flee domestic
violence situations and secure safe housing. Without access to this
benefit, countless immigrants and refugees—many fleeing war, trauma and
economically precarious conditions—would not be able to afford housing in
Ontario upon arrival. For those individuals accessing drop-ins and shelters
and struggling with extreme poverty, substandard housing and homelessness,
mental and physical health disabilities, and addictions, the slashing of
the CSUMB will certainly result in increased marginalization, homelessness,
misery and hardship.
The provincial government’s slashing of the CSUMB, along with other recent
measures like the cut to the Special Diet Allowance, is contributing to
increased poverty and inequality in our communities, especially for social
assistance recipients.
For us as social service and front-line community workers, we see that
these cuts to benefits are part of the same austerity agenda as attacks on
public sector workers. The provincial government eliminates vital benefits
to people on OW and ODSP, imposes contracts on public school teachers, and
counts on us staying divided and unable to effectively fight back together.
We call on all social service and front-line community workers and
agencies, and unions representing these workers, to speak out against this
cut to CSUMB, and to 1) bring this to the membership and sign-on to this
letter as a union local or agency; 2) advocate for access to CSUMB for
clients and challenge unfair denials; 3) join with anti-poverty allies
across the province in mobilizing against this cut.
We demand that this government immediately reverse the cut to CSUMB and
additionally provide adequate rates of Social Assistance benefits so that
people can live with health and dignity.
Signed,
**To sign on to this letter as a union local or as a community service
agency or organization, please email: raisetheratescampaign at gmail.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stop the Cut to Community Start-Up, Raise the Rates Now!
Schedule of Provincial Events
The Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, the Canadian Union of Public
Employees Ontario, and allies across the province, are organizing a series
of events this fall to demand that the McGuinty Liberals stop the cut to
the Community Start-Up and Maintenance Benefit, and Raise the Rates of
Social Assistance.
Cuts by the governments of Mike Harris and Dalton McGuinty have reduced
welfare rates by 60% since 1995! This year`s Provincial Budget continued
the rapid decline with rates that don`t even keep up with inflation.
Following the previous gutting of the vital Special Diet benefit by the
Liberals, this year`s Budget also brought a series of cutbacks for people
on social assistance including the elimination of a benefit known as
`Community Start-Up and Maintenance` (CSUMB). The government has announced
it will eliminate this benefit in January 2013.
16,000 people a month turn to the Community Start-Up and Maintenance
Benefit. It is one of the only ways that people on OW or ODSP can get
housing, cover the costs of moving, stave off eviction and obtain the basic
items to maintain a home. It is a defence against homelessness and a means
by which many women and children are able to leave situations of domestic
violence. Cutting CSUMB seems designed to hurt people as much as possible
when they are at the most vulnerable point in their lives.
We are fighting this cut and demanding a full raise in social assistance
rates to a level that permits people to live in good health and with
dignity.
Kingston: September 27th
Sudbury: October 10th
Ottawa: October 11th
Hamilton: October 13th
Niagara: October 16th
Toronto: October 17th
Kitchener: October 25th
**All details of the events are below, with more to come! Please get in
touch if you would like to organize a similar event in your area.
Contact: Ontario Coalition Against Poverty // www.ocap.ca //
ocap at tao.ca // 416-925-6939
RAISE the RATES CAMPAIGN is endorsed provincially by a wide range of unions
and organizations. To join and participate, please see here:
http://www.ocap.ca/node/947
------------------------------
Kingston:
KCAP Free BBQ and Clinic Day
Thursday, September 27, 2012
11:00am
The Salvation Army on Weller Ave., North Kingston
183 Weller Ave
Kingston Coalition Against Poverty (K.C.A.P) presents a free BBQ/clinic as
part of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (O.C.A.P) Stop the Cut to
Community Start-Up Benefit! Provincial Action.
On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/events/294845520622270/
If you would like more information or want to get involved in the campaign,
contact us at: http://kcap.tao.ca/
-----------------
Sudbury:
Wednesday October 10th
Join the discussion at the Sudbury Anti-Poverty Town Hall Meeting
Fight the cut to Community Start-Up!
Raise OW/ODSP Rates Now!
Raise Minimum Wage Rates Now!
Since the Mike Harris cuts of the 1990’s people on Ontario Works and ODSP
have seen the spending power on their cheques fall by close to 60%. This
year’s Provincial Budget continued the rapid decline with rates that don’t
even keep up with inflation. Following the previous gutting of the vital
Special Diet benefit, this year’s Budget also brought a series of cutbacks
for people on social assistance including the elimination of a benefit
known as ‘Community Start-Up’. This vital benefit is planned to be cut in
January 2013.
The Liberal government froze the minimum wage in 2011. Workers trying to
survive on a minimum wage are already making poverty wages and are seeing
their incomes fall even further as a result of inflation and this freeze.
Currently close to 1 in 6 workers in Ontario are working at or close to the
minimum wage rate.
We are fighting this cut and demanding raises in social assistance and
minimum wage rates to where people can live with health and dignity. Join
us to talk about ways we can fight back together.
Contact: Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty // sudburyCAP at gmail.com //
249-878-7227
Also contact us for information on childcare and transportation
subsidization.
Speakers include: John Clarke of the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty,
Carrie Lynn Poole from CUPE-Ontario and Elizabeth Richer from Mamaweswen,
The North Shore Tribal Council.
Sponsors: The Sudbury Coalition Against Poverty, The Sudbury and District
Labour Council, the Sudbury CUPE Council, Mamaweswen, The North Shore
Tribal Council, The Research Centre in Social Justice and Policy and the
Poverty, Homelessness and Migration Research Project, the Labour Studies
Program, and the Graduate Students' Association at Laurentian University,
The Sudbury Worker’s Education and Advocacy Centre, and The Sudbury Action
Centre for Youth.
Date: Wednesday, October 10th
Time: 6pm - free food and refreshments
6:30pm - Town Hall meeting
Location: Jubilee Centre
195 Applegrove St. Applegrove is one street south of Elm at Lorne (behind
the Court House).
These Town Hall Meetings are organized across the province by the Ontario
Coalition Against Poverty and CUPE-Ontario.
------------
Ottawa:
Thursday, October 11, 2012 | 7:00 PM
Patro d'Ottawa
40 Cobourg St. in Lowertown
On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/events/282820601831382/
The Ontario government is cutting the Community Start-Up & Maintenance
Benefit (CSUMB) that has helped thousands of people on Ontario Works & ODSP
secure and maintain their housing. As of January 2013, the benefit
will not be available.
This is effectively a cut to welfare rates. After the Mike Harris cuts of
the '90s, Premier Dalton McGuinty continues the attacks on poor people.
These cuts mean more hardship and will lead to more homelessness.
CSUMB helps people on OW and ODSP to:
* secure and maintain safe, healthy housing
* afford necessary items and services for their home
* leave abusive relationships & homes
* secure housing after leaving shelters, hospitals, transition houses, and
prisons
Everyone Deserves a FAIR START.
Join the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty in the FIGHT BACK.
Free event. Wheelchair accessible. Bus tickets and snacks provided.
There will be forms & support available to those wishing to apply to CSUMB.
For more information about OCAP, visit http://www.ocap.ca/ or contact
ocap at tao.ca.
For more information about this event, contact monika.thakker at gmail.com.
---------------------
Hamilton:
Saturday, October 13th
Government Cuts Hurt Everyone, Hamilton Responds to Austerity!
Walk and Rally
1:30pm
Gather at Gore Park (King and James)
BBQ and Refreshments provided
Email: hamilton.cawd at gmail.com
--------------------
Niagara/St.Catharines :
Tuesday, October 16th
Town Hall Meeting on Cut to Community Start-Up and Poverty
3 - 5pm
@ Start Me Up Niagara
17 Gale Crescent
St. Catharines, Ontario
*11 200: That's how many families in the Niagara Region received emergency
assistance from the Community Start-Up last year
*75% of recipients used the benefit for basic housing needs like rent and
utilities. Other uses included fleeing domestic violence and recovering
from a bed-bug infestation
Tell Your Story, Make Your Voice Heard!
Act Now to Save Housing Supports for People on OW/ODSP!
For more information: niagara.CSUMB.action at gmail.com
http://www.facebook.com/FightTheCutToTheCommunityStartUpCSUMB
---------------------------
Toronto:
Day for the Eradication of Poverty
Wednesday October 17
Join Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (OCAP) and Jane-Finch Action
Against Poverty (JFAAP) at events throughout the day...
DOWNTOWN:
Save the Community Start-Up, Raise the Rates Now!
10:00 AM: Walk-in Clinic:
Find out about or apply for Community Start Up, join us at the Church of
the Holy Trinity, 10 Trinity Square (west of the Eaton Centre, south of
Dundas)
12.00 Noon: Meal and Rally @ Toronto City Hall Square (Bay/Queen):
March on the Provincial Government to Deliver all Applications Collected
that Day
A Province wide campaign is being built to save the CSUMB and, in Toronto,
OCAP is looking to contribute to this on October 17 with a mass application
for the benefit that will also demand the cutback be reversed. We will hold
a mass clinic to make people aware of how they can apply for CSUMB and we
will fill in application forms for all those who wish to obtain it. Then,
we will rally together and march on the Government to put in these
applications and many more from across Ontario.
If you want to help build this event or learn how you and others in your
community can receive the CSUMB, give us a call today. More than anything,
come out on October 17 and help us stop McGuinty from getting away with his
plans to put people on the streets. Save the Community Start Up Benefit,
Raise the Rates NOW!
More info at: http://www.ocap.ca/node/1013
http://www.facebook.com/events/283317985117858/
Contact: ocap at tao.ca // 416-925-6939
JANE and FINCH:
3:30PM: Demonstrate Against Poverty
Corner of Jane/Finch
We demand:
• Raise the rates
• Increase Minimum wage
• Keep the Community Start-Up and Maintenance Benefit
• Restore the special diet program
• Stop police targeting youth
• Affordable: decent housing, healthy food, prescriptions, childcare
Music
Food
Good people
Fun
Come celebrate the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty!
Four years ago JFAAP was formed on the corner of Jane and Finch. Since
then, we have done much but poverty prevails and may have gotten worse. We
have to continue to resist!
JFAAP.wordpress.com <http://jfaap.wordpress.com/>
janefinchactionagainstpoverty at gmail.com
Organized by Jane Finch Action Against Poverty and Allies
-----------------------
Kitchener-Waterloo
Thursday, October 25th
6:30-8:30pm
Poverty Makes Us Sick
More details TBA
--
Terrie ( mocharebyl at gmail.com )
“If you see an injustice being committed, you aren't an observer, you are a
participant.” June Callwood
'If it is not on the menu cook it yourself' Buffy St Marie
--
Terrie ( mocharebyl at gmail.com )
“If you see an injustice being committed, you aren't an observer, you are a
participant.” June Callwood
'If it is not on the menu cook it yourself' Buffy St Marie
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://list.web.net/pipermail/homeles_ot-l/attachments/20121009/3aa83439/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: CSUMB Open Letter.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 334578 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://list.web.net/pipermail/homeles_ot-l/attachments/20121009/3aa83439/attachment-0001.pdf>
More information about the homeles_ot-l
mailing list